Food and Drinks

Sunday dish: potato pan with grilled squid

May 28, 2020September 7, 2020 by Margaret Talbot

It was market day again and after I did a first lap to get inspiration, I stopped by the fish stand. Usually around eleven thirty, when I finally reach the market after a hearty breakfast, it is pretty much looted and mostly there is only salmon and some smoked fish. Yesterday there were some squids too. The line was long and I hoped that no one would get the idea to snatch the squids from under my nose. Because after steak and salmon I felt like having another pan of vegetables. It goes so quickly, is fresh and healthy and simply delicious.

So there is another pan of vegetables, this time with new potatoes and grilled squid. It was almost ready to cook, but not yet skinned. But before you can process the squid, you have to make it naked. A job that is not necessarily super easy now, since the whole animal is quite slippery and you have to use almost brute force to get the squid out of its skin. If you have managed to catch a piece of skin, you can usually pull off the whole skin with one jerk. So here you just need a little practice and patience.

As a result, a really great dish with browned potatoes, crunchy strawberries, sweet onions and a grilled squid is waiting to be eaten. Now you just have to imagine sitting on a terrace in the south of France or Italy and eating the dish over a nice red wine. Because you definitely get that summer holiday feeling with this fresh dish.

The ingredients for 2 people

2 ready-to-cook squids
450 g new potatoes
4 tomatoes
1 medium to large onion
1 good handful of fresh strawberries
3 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli pod
Juice of one lemon
half a bunch of basil
half a bunch of flat-leaf parsley
3 sprigs of (lemon) thyme
good olive oil
Frying fat
white pepper (if available)
Salt, pepper from the mill

The preparation (about 35 min.)

1. First wash and scrub the potatoes. Do not remove the shell. Then cook in salted water for about 25 minutes.

2. In the meantime, prepare the squids. Wash and, if they have not skinned, peel off the skin under running water. Only brute force and perseverance help here. Then slide a large knife into the body of the squid, place it on a board and cut across the top with a second knife at a distance of 1 cm. The knife in the squid prevents the whole squid from being cut. Skin the head with the arms as well. Do the same with the second. Pat the squids dry. Then season the squids in a bowl with white pepper and a pinch of salt and set aside.

3. Now wash the tomatoes and quarter or sixth, depending on the size. Peel the onion and cut into thick slices. Wash the strawberries, remove the greens and quarter them. Wash the herbs, shake dry and roughly chop. Set aside in a bowl. Drain the potatoes and let them dry / cool a little. Depending on the size and heat of the chilli, cut the whole chilli or half a chilli pod into fine rings. Peel the garlic and press lightly.

4. Heat a heavy pan. Add the frying fat and the small potatoes and fry all over until golden brown. Then add the onion strips. When these start to brown, place the potatoes and onions on a plate and set aside for a moment.

5. Now add olive oil to the pan and fry the squids over high heat for 2 minutes on each side. When they turn brown, add the chilli and garlic and continue frying.

6. Then put the potatoes and onions back into the pan, add the tomatoes and season everything with salt and pepper. Pour some olive oil. Add the juice of the lemon and half of the chopped herbs. Swing everything together briefly. Finally mix in the strawberries and arrange everything on two plates. Finally, season again with pepper and pour the remaining herbs over the plate.